The Mask of Fu Manchu
| The Mask of Fu Manchu | |
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| Directed by |
Charles Brabin Charles Vidor (uncredited) |
| Written by | Irene Kuhn Edgar Allan Woolf John Willard |
| Based on |
The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932 novel) by Sax Rohmer |
| Starring | Boris Karloff |
| Cinematography | Tony Gaudio |
| Edited by | Ben Lewis |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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68 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $327,627 |
The Mask of Fu Manchu is a 1932 Pre-Code adventure film directed by Charles Brabin. It was written by Irene Kuhn, Edgar Allan Woolf and John Willard based on the 1932 novel of the same name by Sax Rohmer. Starring Boris Karloff as Fu Manchu, and featuring Myrna Loy as his depraved daughter, the movie revolves around Fu Manchu's quest for the golden sword and mask of Genghis Khan. Lewis Stone plays his nemesis.
The Mask of Fu Manchu is considered the best of the Fu Manchu films produced in the 1930s. This is one of the few films produced by William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Productions which did not star Hearst's mistress, Marion Davies.
Sir Denis Nayland Smith (Lewis Stone) of the British Secret Service warns Egyptologist Sir Lionel Barton (Lawrence Grant) that he must beat Fu Manchu in the race to find the tomb of Genghis Khan. The power-mad Fu Manchu (Boris Karloff) intends to use the sword and mask to proclaim himself the reincarnation of the legendary conqueror and inflame the peoples of Asia and the Middle East into a war to wipe out the "white race". Sir Lionel is kidnapped soon afterward and taken to Fu Manchu. Fu Manchu tries bribing his captive, even offering his own daughter, Fah Lo See (Myrna Loy). When that fails, Barton suffers the "torture of the bell" (lying underneath a gigantic, constantly ringing bell) in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to reveal the location of the tomb.
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